Who Is Afraid Of Lu Xun? The Politics Of “Debates About Lu Xun” (鲁迅论争lu Xun Lun Zheng) And The Question Of His Legacy In Post-Revolution China

10.1163/ej.9789004175167.i-447.53

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Chapter Summary

For quite some time, Lu Xun and his legacy, along with the May Fourth Movement, have been challenged and his relevance questioned in the West among certain circles of China scholars. They exist as major cultural legacies and a structure of feeling, relevant not as cultural relics but as operative forces that keep alive some of the most fundamental questions that China has had to come to terms with. It is because Lu Xun scholars do not try to learn to be self-critical by way of recognizing Lu Xun's critical spirit, nor try to recognize the fact that there is an unbroken connection between what Lu Xun criticized and negated and what exist. The ways in which Lu Xun's critical spirit is relevant for present is not understood. Lu Xun is a true modernist who has foreseen the postmodern condition and the ironies of it all.